AN ELDERLY woman and her daughter were terrorized on Monday morning in their Prospect, East Bank Demerara home by two armed bandits.The 73-year-old pensioner, still nursing injuries to her head and arms; and her daughter, declined to relate the horrific incident when approached by Guyana Chronicle. However, this newspaper was told that at about 02:30h on Monday, the elderly woman and her daughter were in one of the rooms in the upper flat of their two-storey house when they heard a suspicious noise emanating from the lower flat of the building. Leaving her mother behind in the bedroom, the daughter, who is said to be in her 40s, ventured in the hall, and much to her surprise, all of the lights were off.

The woman, Guyana Chronicle was told, wasted no time in putting on the lights, and it was when she proceeded to check the inner stairway that she was grabbed by the armed bandits and thrown to the floor.

But the 40-plus-year-old woman reportedly put up a fight, removing one of the bandits’ masks in the process. “They had a knife all along, but after she put up a fight. One of them pulled out a gun and said, ‘if you only scream, I will shoot you in your mouth’,” a close relative told this newspaper.

According to him, while the daughter was being held at gunpoint, the mother opened the bedroom door. “When she opened the door, one of the bandits threw her back on the bed and punched her to the face and left eye,” he reported as he pointed out that the 73-year-old woman now suffers from a puncture to the head, which required about five to six stitches. Her right arm is now in cast as well.

The bandits, in attempting to gain access to the house, had reportedly removed the louvre panes from a section of the lower flat windows of the building. Upon entering the house, the bandits, reportedly strapped with their tool kit, proceeded to remove the grill work from the door leading to the upper flat of the building. However, it was not long before they located the key to the upper flat.

During the entire ordeal, the bandits demanded cash and jewelry. After finding $50,000 and a gold bangle, the thieves made good their escape, leaving their bag with tools behind.

Neighbours were quickly alerted, and police, when contacted, responded within 10-15 minutes.